Before the first episode of Ironheart even dropped, the internet already had opinions, loud ones. If you’ve followed Marvel’s recent attempts at inclusive storytelling, you’ve seen this pattern before. Think Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Acolyte, Captain America 4, and Echo, every one of them faced a wave of pre-release criticism for daring to center BIPOC leads. Now, with Ironheart, history repeats. But Executive Producer Ryan Coogler and Head Writer Chinaka Hodge are unbothered, unwavering, and fully aware of the cycle. We had a chance to ask them about the Ironheart Marvel backlash.
“This show is for people who not permanently online, expressing their opinions about everything,” Coogler told me. “It’s for people who busy living their lives, bro.”
The Pre-Backlash Playbook: We’ve Seen This Before the Ironheart Marvel backlash
Let’s be honest. There’s a formula now. A Marvel project dares to center a character who isn’t white or male, and here comes the tidal wave of “concerned” fans questioning merit, canon accuracy, or tone, often without watching a single frame. It happened with Moses Ingram in Obi-Wan, whose mere presence sparked racist vitriol. The Acolyte faced heat just for having a woman of color in the lead. Echo, featuring a deaf Native American hero, caught flak before its trailer could even finish buffering.
And now, Riri Williams, young, Black, brilliant, and female, is under fire before she even straps into her suit. But this time, the creators came prepared.
“I knew it was coming,” Coogler admitted. “Whenever you break ground in spaces that are thought of as not being for you, this happens.” For him, it’s not just about the hate. It’s about recognizing the gap between perception and reality.
“That backlash is usually not factual,” he said. “If you check internet narratives, you’d think Wakanda Forever bombed. But I can tell you it’s streamed nearly double what the first Black Panther did.” That disconnect fuels much of the disinformation campaigns swirling around shows like Ironheart.
While Coogler came with stats, Chinaka Hodge brought soul. “I was still doing rewrites while living in Birmingham,” she told the roundtable. “And my people were owned on that land.” For Hodge, the hate was never louder than the spiritual clarity she felt about her role in the work.
“Compared to the victory, the hate is so small,” she said. “Babies were willing to march for freedom. I can write a TV show.” That’s a powerful recalibration of perspective, a reminder that representation is resistance, but also healing.
And Marvel? According to Hodge, they stepped up. “At the start of this, I got some scary stuff and Disney-Marvel shut it down. Shut it down.”
